


Let Me Be A Friend In Need, Let Me Be A Friend Indeed

by singing_to_empty_caves



Series: That's What Bein' A Friend Is About [13]
Category: Mother 1 | EarthBound Zero | EarthBound Beginnings
Genre: (did my research, apparently grown adults can't drive those tanks on their own), ft. lloyd riding in a tank, lloyd is brave, ninten has a revelation, oh yeah and teddy murders a dragon, pls forgive me, teddy's still a pottymouth, then the big bad robot man comes, this is so much longer than i planned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:13:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26768566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/singing_to_empty_caves/pseuds/singing_to_empty_caves
Summary: Lloyd finds his way back to his friends, and Ninten figures out what really matters to him.
Series: That's What Bein' A Friend Is About [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1524248
Comments: 22
Kudos: 17





	Let Me Be A Friend In Need, Let Me Be A Friend Indeed

**Author's Note:**

> TW:  
> -swearing  
> -non-human blood

The first weird thing about moving on with Teddy was that he liked to be in charge. Actually, he couldn’t stand _not_ being in charge. From the very minute they walked out of jail, Teddy slid on some sunglasses and started trying to call the shots--first off, by yanking Ninten and Ana into an alley, which wasn’t too polite, and he was pretty rough about it too.

“Listen up. You’re gonna take me to Mount Itoi and show me where all these psychotic monsters have been hiding out. Got it?”

“I’m sorry?” Ana laughed in disbelief.

Teddy folded his arms over his chest. “You’d have to be blind to miss that cloud of doom hanging over the mountain. Most people can’t figure out what those… _things_ are doing there--I’ve tried myself. But you two? You’re kid psychics, and apparently you can mess with people’s _brains._. You have to know something about what’s going on up there.”

“I… honestly don’t,” Ninten said. “We’ve just been lookin’ for melodies. You said you’d help us, didn’t ya?”

“Hey, this is a two-way agreement. Otherwise I’m out.”

It was Ana’s turn to fold her arms in defiance. “You didn’t say anything about that in the cell. You just said you’d come with us on our mission to fight the Weirdness.”

“Well, if you kids are gonna drag me into your little game of pretend, then I want proof,” Teddy said.

“Proof?” Ninten repeated. Proof of what? He’d already seen their PSI, right?

“All this ‘Magicannon’ shit, why should I believe you?”

Ninten didn’t feel too great about Teddy’s tone, or the constant rude demands, but he smiled anyway. Maybe Teddy just needed a little time to settle in. Yeah, that was it. Ana had trouble at the start, too--this was no big deal.

“It’s Magicant, actually,” Ninten said. “But… don’t you trust us?”

“Right now? Not as far as I can spit,” Teddy replied. “Now, a dangerous journey, that I can believe. Kids like you get neck-deep in trouble all the time. My problem’s with the weird fixation on some queen I never heard of.”

Oh, okay! That was easy. Ninten had actually been wondering about something he saw pretty early on, but the time never seemed right before…

“I can take you to Magicant,” he said.

“Wait, really?!” Ana asked.

“Yeah! Why not?”

Ana was staring at Ninten with _real_ wide eyes. “Well, I don’t know! You sort of made it seem like Magicant was some abstract place, it just didn’t seem…”

Now that Ninten thought about it, that did kinda make sense. For all his talk about uniting his friends to gather the melodies, he hadn’t ever bothered to “prove” Magicant to them. Although, to be fair, they never asked.

Teddy, unsurprisingly, still didn’t look too sure. “How do I know this ain’t a cheap trick? I’m not gonna follow you out to the middle of nowhere and end up getting messed up by a Snake.”

Was that all Teddy was worried about? The guy had so much muscle, he could donate some to charity and still be able to squish Ninten like a bug afterwards!

“Teddy, if I can beat up a snake, so can you!” Ninten said. 

“Not the animal,” Teddy groaned. “The thugs! I’m in a gang, kid. Other gangs don’t like us.”

Oh, that made a lot more sense.

“Well, I’ll tell ya what, Teddy. These Snake guys, they’re here in Valentine, right?”

Teddy nodded once. Bingo! That was all Ninten needed to know. He’d seen TV shows about this stuff when his mom was out late and he stayed up past his bedtime. No one did anything bad in broad daylight, right? They needed someplace without witnesses, so they always waited until nighttime, or picked places where no one would see. If Teddy was nervous about another gang, Ninten knew exactly how to deal with this problem.

“I dunno if you knew this, but we can teleport,” Ninten explained. “No back alleys, no side roads, no leavin’ town in any way they could follow us.”

Teddy didn’t look too impressed, but the way he raised his eyebrows kind of wasn’t as aggressive as normal. 

“It’s one of our PSI abilities,” Ana added. “That is, if you haven’t suddenly decided that you don’t believe in those, either.”

Teddy sighed. “Well, if you’re not making this shit up, then we’ll teleport. If you are, nothing happens. I don’t see a downside. Just promise me that _if_ it’s true, once all this is over and I’m on board with your little mission, you’ll go with me to Mount Itoi.”

“Why’re you so interested in the monsters up there?” Ninten asked.

“It’s personal,” Teddy answered, in a more scary-sounding voice than normal.

Ninten didn’t like the way Teddy was acting, but he figured he could give Teddy the benefit of the doubt. After all, not everyone decided right away to trust someone and drop everything to go on an adventure. Some people, but not everyone.

...That thought hurt, and Ninten kicked it out of his head.

“Okay. We’ll take you to Mount Itoi… after you help us with something in Magicant. Cross my heart and hope to die.”

Teddy’s sunglasses were too dark to see past, but Ninten recognized the expression on the rest of his face well enough to know he was rolling his eyes. “Sure, kid. You’d better keep your word.”

“I always do!” Ninten held out a hand. “Grab on, and we’ll start runnin’!”

If Ninten had made any progress with helping Teddy loosen up, it all came undone right then. Teddy took a step backward, and maybe Ninten wasn’t too good at reading people, but he at least knew that meant Teddy wasn’t interested.

“Start… running?” Teddy repeated doubtfully. “Like, you want me to tear off down the street holding your hand.”

“We gotta build up speed!”

Ana was giving Teddy a real tired-looking glare. “I know it seems strange, but there’s no other way. We have to be moving fast enough to slip between dimensions, and we need to have enough space to actually _move_ without… well, actually crashing and burning.”

“Soot doesn’t wash out easy,” Ninten added, remembering their first few tries at teleportation and how much time they spent cleaning up their clothes and other stuff afterwards.

“You can’t honestly expect me to do that. I’ll look ridiculous--especially if it doesn't work.”

Ninten was honestly used to people giving in to his friendly, cheery talk pretty quick, so Teddy's outright “no”s over and over felt kinda strange. He didn't quite know how to respond right away.

"Okay, Teddy," Ana sighed. "You can't have it both ways. You wanted proof of Magicant, and that's what Ninten's offering you. But you don't want to teleport, because you don't trust our word yet--and helping you trust us is why we were going to take you there in the first place. Now, you can either refuse to teleport and just put your faith entirely in Ninten's honesty and leadership, or you can choose to believe that PSI Teleport exists--which is a _far_ less ridiculous notion--and you'll have your proof of our quest. Which will it be?"

Did Ana just talk to Teddy like he was a little kid?! Ninten shouldn't have been surprised by this point, especially knowing how much Teddy got on her nerves and how bad her mood had been all morning. Still, this was _way_ more direct than Ninten could ever be with someone--Ana cared about getting things done before she cared about being nice. Every time she did something like that, all confident and brave, Ninten remembered just how much he liked having her on the team. 

As for Teddy, it seemed like he was entirely caught off-guard by Ana's, uh, _honest_ approach. Once he blinked away the surprise, he raised his eyebrows.

"...Tell you what. I'll do this whole 'teleport' thing with you, running and all--but if it doesn't work, you owe me a brand-new jacket.”

Ninten grinned, deciding then and there to buy Teddy a jacket anyways. Maybe it would help things between them.

“Deal.”

For the first time Ninten could remember, being nice didn’t get him as far as being--well, frankly, Ana was almost _rude._ Then again, now that Ninten thought about it, he did have some trouble with the “foolproof” friendly approach before, didn’t he? Lloyd had that weird fight with him over math, and Ana was too wound up over being all _proper._ Those things just didn’t seem too obvious right away--they took time.

It… didn’t take Teddy much time at all to throw Lloyd out, though…

No, wait, Ninten had to remember that Teddy did what was best for the group and for Lloyd. Ninten and Ana couldn’t protect him forever, and if Lloyd got hurt--

     _The voice was muffled, nearly impossible to understand, but it was the first thing Ninten could hear through the fog._

    _“Please!_ Ninten! _You’re my best friend!” Lloyd screamed._

\--well, Ninten wasn’t gonna risk it either way. Besides, that was all over. Lloyd was on his way home, where he’d be safe, and Teddy was here to fight with Ninten and Ana, and that was the way things were. He might as well make the best of it. After all, Teddy was just the type of person they needed in Magicant, if Ninten was remembering right.

Ninten reached out a hand, and Teddy--still a little skeptical--grabbed it. That, considering the conversation they’d had, was definitely a win.

“Get ready.”

“3…”

“2…”

“1…”

“PSI TELEPORT!”

* * *

Lloyd skidded back into the bus stop on squeaky sneakers, echoing through the whole building and probably splitting someone’s ears. The thing was, he couldn’t care less about the noise at this point. The number-one priority was getting on the road again. He was too far away from Valentine to waste time on being polite or quiet, even if it went against everything he learned growing up. He wondered why his instinct to protect his friends overrode his instinct to have basic manners, but that was something to think about later, he decided as he reached the ticket booth.

“Excuse me,” he puffed out, slamming his hands on the counter in front of him. “When’s the next bus to Valentine?”

The attendant in charge of the tickets, clearly unamused, sighed at him. “Tomorrow, kid. Go home and get some sleep.”

 _Tomorrow?!_ Okay, maybe if he just--

_LLOYD!_

No, that couldn’t be the only option! The echo in his head was more than enough to convince him to keep trying. Ana didn’t exactly sound like she had time to wait for the next bus. There had to be something sooner!

“Okay, what’s the closest city _on the way_ to Valentine?”

This time, she actually rolled her eyes. “Easter, if you’re even interested in that disaster of a town right now. Next bus direct to Easter’s set to leave tomorrow, too. Ya know, half our buses are missing because--”

“Are there _any_ buses leaving tonight?!”

She raised an eyebrow. “You’re headed northeast? There’s one for Santa Claus Station leaving in five minutes. That’s it.”

“That works!” Lloyd agreed, already digging for his wallet. “What’s it cost?”

“It’s a premium trip. One of the fancy new buses for important businessmen and all, with all the… the doodads in it. Fifty dollars.”

Fifty--Lloyd couldn’t afford that! He’d already blown so much money on his trip home that he was counting change for his school lunch!

“Aren’t there any less expensive buses?”

“Well, if you hadn’t interrupted me, you’d know the answer. All the buses we send to Easter don’t come back. No contact with the drivers, no nothing. Our schedule’s just bare-bones for the usual routes right now. You go on the expensive trip, or you wait until tomorrow.”

What was he supposed to do now?! Sneak on the bus? He wasn’t about to break the law, even if--

Wait. The cash Ninten put in Lloyd’s wallet! Normally, Lloyd would be flustered by the generosity, but right now it could mean life or death for his friends, and he was more than ready to count his blessings.

“You gonna pay up or what?”

Lloyd pulled out one of the crisp bills and held it out to her. “Can you break a hundred?”

She blinked slowly and took a sip from a concerningly large cup of coffee. “What’s a kid like you doing with a hundred dollars?”

“Buying a bus ticket,” he deadpanned. “C’mon, I _have_ to make this bus, you don’t understand!”

“You’re right, I don’t.”

“Please just take the money and give me my ticket!” Lloyd insisted impatiently.

With one more of her evidently signature sighs, the attendant took the cash, then opened up a drawer and handed back fifty in other bills. She typed a few numbers into a computer on her left, and within a few seconds, a noisy printer stuttered out a bus ticket.

“Thank you so much!” Lloyd burst out, and barely had the ticket in his hand before he was sprinting away.

“It’s the one in Bay Seven!”

“Seven’s a lucky number!”

In the parking lot, illuminated by the yellow light of streetlamps, were buses all lined up and ready to go. Each parking spot was labeled, counting up from one to ten, and Lloyd only paused for a moment to assess the lot before he tore off running to get to the bus in the spot labeled ‘7’.

Just as he came around the front of the bus, the driver pulled the lever to close the door. Without even considering the consequences, Lloyd shoved his foot into the doorway--and then bit back a shout of pain when the door started to close on his shoe. Thankfully, the bus driver caught on, and the door popped back open.

“Have you lost your mind?!” the driver snapped.

“I have a ticket, I just--I need to make this bus!” Lloyd insisted.

“Get your ass on board, and don’t let me catch you doing anything stupid like that for the rest of the ride!”

“Gladly,” Lloyd said, only wincing once as he took the steps up onto the bus--and thanking his lucky stars he hadn’t broken his foot.

It was only when he sat down in his seat that he realized that… he’d never acted like that before. It wasn’t just sprinting noisily through the bus station in the middle of the night, either. Once he let go of that one little thing, other new and strange behaviors came on faster and faster. When was the last time he stood up for himself when something seemed impossible--even a seemingly small problem, like getting a bus out of Thanksgiving before tomorrow? He’d physically stopped the bus driver from leaving the stop because he’d paid for his ticket and he intended to use it. Had he ever been that insistent before about getting what he rightfully deserved? None of that-- _none of it_ \--would’ve happened, not in his wildest dreams, if he’d acted like his old self. He would’ve resigned to a trip the next day. He would’ve watched the bus drive away and hesitantly asked the grouchy ticket attendant for a refund.

So, what had gotten into him? How did squeaky sneakers snowball into all of this? Lloyd had to have picked it up from somewhere, because even as a younger child he’d never done anything so bold.

Bold… suddenly, it all made sense. Sprinting into a bus station, asking for all the information he needed, shelling out money without hesitation, and putting his foot in the door of a bus? That all sounded like Ninten. Apparently, he had rubbed off on Lloyd more than Lloyd anticipated. Not only that, but that influence from Ninten was the reason Lloyd just got his bus trip to Santa Claus Station.

Lloyd thanked Ninten in his head, and swore to himself that he’d try his hardest to keep acting like this the rest of the way--straightforward and determined--so that he could get to his friends on time.

* * *

The high-pitched whine of teleportation faded as Ninten and Ana stumbled and just about fell over into the grass. Thankfully, after teleporting a few times before, they were able to save their balance at the last second--but that didn’t stop the new, different air from getting at Ninten’s lungs. He stood up straight, reached backwards to dig up his inhaler from his messy backpack, and did the “shake n’ take” he’d learned a long time ago. When his breathing calmed down, he shoved the inhaler back into the pocket it came from and told himself he’d zip it up later.

“Welcome to… well, I’m not too sure what this place is called, but it’s _way_ north of Mother’s Day,” Ninten announced. “The entrance to Magicant is right there in that cave.”

He spun around to talk to Teddy in particular, only to see him on his knees in the grass. He looked dizzy, confused, and definitely real shocked.

“What the… _Mother’s Day?_ ”

“Mhm!” Ninten grinned. “My hometown! Sorta. I guess I don’t actually live there, but I kinda live in the middle of nowhere, so I just say I’m from there.”

Teddy finally seemed to be getting himself back together after teleporting for the first time. “Kid, Mother’s Day _is_ the middle of nowhere.”

"Well, maybe to you! But compared to my house, it's just like Valentine. See, where I live’s past the river, way up this real old dirt road…"

Ninten pictured his house in his head, with the fence his dad built before Ninten was born. He imagined his dog Lucky in the front yard, and then he remembered how Lucky would get mud all over his fluffy little paws and Ninten would have to give him a bath _again._ But for now, Lucky was in the yard, and so were Ninten’s sisters, and he could practically _hear_ Minnie and Mimmie yelling while they played tag. They didn’t used to like playing tag, not before Ninten made them put down their dolls and come outside and play with him. And then, right inside the house… Momma was setting dinner on the kitchen counter with her fancy-looking flowery oven mitts, and she was getting ready to call his sisters in for dinner… and she was probably wondering why Ninten hadn’t called home for so long...

"Ninten?"

The daydream blinked away, and Ninten realized he got kinda carried away. Whoops. He grinned to show Ana he was okay.

"Sorry 'bout that! We better stop talkin' about Mother's Day and get movin' to Magicant!"

Ninten held out a hand to help Teddy to his feet, but Teddy didn't take it--he pushed himself off the grass and brushed off his jeans as if Ninten hadn’t offered anything at all. Ninten told himself it was okay, and Teddy was probably pretty heavy for Ninten to try to help, anyways.

"All right, then, kid. Show the way."

Ninten waved at Ana and Teddy to follow him, and took a few careful steps into the cave. As soon as the other two walked in behind him, he saw a pretty big problem… or, actually, he _didn’t_ see, and that _was_ the problem.

"Teddy? Ya got real big shoulders," Ninten said.

"Okay, so what?"

Ninten needed to get better at putting together a decent sentence before he talked. What was that supposed to mean, “you got real big shoulders”, did he really expect Teddy to understand what he meant?

“Well, I can’t really get at the psychic shell without bein’ able to see. D’ya mind movin’?”

“...What?”

The cave made Ana's little irritated sigh louder than Ninten had ever heard it before.

"We don't have flashlights, and you're blocking all the light coming into the cave. Is there any way you could turn to the side or something? Ninten’s going to slip and fall if he’s not careful, the ground’s all wet.”

Well, whatever Ninten didn’t get around to saying, Ana covered it pretty well. She was pretty good at that. 

But then Teddy didn’t answer her right away, and Ninten wondered why. After all, Ninten liked to think he had this guy figured out by now. Teddy didn’t really think too much before he talked--kinda like yours truly. Did one of them say something weird?

“How old are you two again?” Teddy finally asked.

“Twelve,” Ninten said. “Why?”

“You asked me to move. Actually, you sounded pretty condescending about it, too. See, most people don’t just _ask_ me to do shit. They’re scared to. And those are grown-ass adults.” 

Ninten tried not to laugh, but he ended up snorting. “We've already fought off wolves, bears, n’ crocodiles. We nearly got killed by the ghosts in a haunted mansion! What’s so scary ‘bout some grown-up with muscles?”

Teddy’s silhouette at the cave entrance was definitely blocking the light, but Ninten started to think that Teddy might not have been as big as he remembered.

“...So, when you tried to start a fight at the karaoke club--”

“I wasn’t _tryin’_ to!”

“--okay, when you met me and you clearly weren’t intimidated… that wasn’t just you being drunk?”

“Nope! Or, actually, considerin’ how all that alcohol business put my PSI on the fritz, I guess I was bein’ kinda stupid. But that was only ‘cause my head wasn’t on straight, n’ I could do _way_ worse to ya now. If I wanted to, I could paralyze ya right where you stand n’ beat the livin’ daylights outta you with my bat.”

Ana gasped. “ _Ninten!_ ”

“Not that I _would!_ I just could, if I had a good reason,” Ninten defended.

“...You got some serious guts, kid.”

Teddy moved, and it was like opening a sliding door. All the light came shining in, and the way it reflected off the little puddles on the ground, it was almost like Ninten had a path lit up for him.

“Thanks,” Ninten said. “I’ll go on ahead n’ find the shell. Ana, you follow me. Once we find it, Teddy, ya think you can make it to the back of the cave without gettin’ hurt in the dark? I think your boots’ll probably do lots better in here than my old sneakers.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Teddy said, and Ninten politely ignored the soft “shit” that came after it.

Ninten hadn’t been back to this cave in a while, but once he got a few feet in, he recognized the shell right away with its huge crossed-out eyes. Or, at least, he thought they were eyes. After all, they looked just like the cartoons with big old ‘X’es on people’s faces to show they were dead. As far as Ninten knew, no one inside Magicant or out looked like this shell, so he told himself the whole "dead person eyes" thing was just a coincidence.

“It’s up here!” he called back to Ana and Teddy.

Ana’s footsteps splashed up, and then Teddy’s came after with loud stomping. Once they were both quiet, and Ninten knew they’d be ready, he shut his eyes and focused on his right hand.

He could feel the tingling rushing out of his chest, and zooming right through his arm all warm and friendly. PSI was real funny because Ninten knew no one else could see it, but _he_ was watching his skin glow all red and blue and green in super-speed waves--he’d never been to a real beach, but from the stuff he saw on TV, he thought the PSI looked kinda like the ocean on fast-forward.

Then, with all that color rushing right to his fingertips, he knew it was starting to glow for Ana and Teddy, too. His fingers were red and blue and green like lightning bugs--wouldn’t all those lightning bugs look so much cooler like this, anyways? And speaking of lightning, electricity, Ninten braced himself for the shock--and touched his fingers to the shell.

The colors all swirled together and shot right up his shoulder and his neck and into his head. For half a second, Ninten could’ve sworn he felt something poking at his feelings from somewhere--but that was just how Magicant was, always in tune with his PSI somehow. He knew to wait for the riddle in the soft voice, and he'd memorized the answers from Great-Grandpa George's journal, so he was as ready as he'd ever be.

_Where is the tail of god?_

“Lost in the cosmos,” Ninten murmured out loud.

_To whom did it belong?_

Ninten reached behind him, and he felt Ana’s hand grab his, and he felt his energy start to mix with hers and then hers mixed with something that didn’t glow near as bright.

“The one which the ship that soars the heavens abandoned.”

All the colors flew out of Ninten and swirled together into foggy pink and green, and he felt his soul fill up with something strange as Magicant pulled them in.

* * *

Lloyd was taking the fastest mess of transportation possible to get back to Valentine. He’d never been more grateful to be so good at math--glancing over arrivals and departures and locations, he had to make a lot of impulsive, unconventional choices to save on time. He knew there wouldn’t be any trains leaving for Valentine, not unless the broken track had somehow already been repaired. Instead, he bought a ticket to a shuttle headed for the power plant in Easter. It wasn’t a permanent route, but the transportation company had (confusedly) made a deal with the electric company and started sending regular groups of people to check out the power outages and lack of phone service. Lloyd felt bad that no one had caught onto the disappearances yet, but with any luck, Lloyd's rush to get back to his friends would mean the Easter disaster ended sooner rather than later. Either way, he’d placed all his bets on the drivers _not_ disappearing, and his being able to hitch a ride on the other (equally baffled) shuttle coming from Valentine. If not, well… he knew someone at the outpost in the swamp, if nothing else.

A journey that took him several days by less expensive, less outlandish routes had taken him nine hours so far, and he was planning on about four more--the travel time for this stretch of the journey seemed too long, but this vehicle would still make it to Easter long before the next bus for Valentine even left Santa Claus Station. Lloyd tried to tell himself it was a necessary evil.

Staring out the window, Lloyd replayed Ana’s desperate call in his head again.

_LLOYD!_

That was it. It was one word, one very desperate word. Ana almost always used full sentences, even when she was preoccupied or upset. At least the last time she’d called him to come back, she had an explanation. This was vague, and that made it terrifying. There were so many possibilities--were they injured? Captured? ...Were they _dead?_

No. Lloyd couldn’t think like that. His friends were stronger than that, and they had someone even stronger with them. They couldn’t have gone down that easily.

That didn’t mean that his thoughts wouldn’t cycle back here again, but he wouldn’t let the fear stay, either.

Lloyd startled when the shuttle brakes let out a loud whine, and the vehicle rumbled to a stop.

“What’s the matter?!” someone called out.

“Tree fell on the road,” the driver shouted back. “We need to call someone for help!”

A man in a long coat stood up and brushed himself off. “The phones in Easter haven’t been reconnected yet. Cupid Station’s not open, but I can take a couple people on foot and see what we can do about fixing the phone lines--”

“That won’t help!” Lloyd burst out.

Everyone turned to stare as he got up and moved to the aisle between the seats.

“Easter doesn’t have a problem with the phone lines at all. People have been disappearing, you know that, and in Easter it’s all the grown-ups who are gone! No one’s paying the phone bills! They’re all _kids!_ And if you go there, you might disappear, too!”

“Sit back down, kid,” the man in the coat told him.

“No!” Lloyd insisted. “The closest place with working phones is Santa Claus Station, and it’ll only waste time to go back there! I know a faster way to get help. There’s this guy in the desert who used to be in the army, and he’s got a HAM radio. That’s our best bet.”

The driver jabbed a finger in Lloyd’s direction. “You don’t tell me how to drive my shuttle, okay, kid?”

“Well, I’m not gonna just sit here while you drive all the way back to Santa Claus Station and find someone who can move this tree, and then wait around for the next bus out of the station! I’m in a hurry!”

The man in the coat scoffed. “What are you, ten? You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Eleven!” Lloyd corrected. “And _you_ don’t know what _you’re_ talking about! You’re walking right into a trap in Easter, and it doesn’t matter how long you take to get there if you’re just gonna disappear. But me? I’m trying to save someone’s life!”

“All right, that’s enough!” the driver called. “You with the glasses. Off the bus.”

“But--”

“Now!”

Lloyd almost put up a fight, but clearly no one on this shuttle was going to make any effort to call help--at least, any effort that wouldn’t lead to their disappearance in Easter. Maybe he was better off leaving after all.

He passed through the aisle as quickly as he could, then hopped out of the front of the shuttle and glanced around at the trees. He was nowhere near the swamp yet... but he wasn’t too far from the desert. If he was stranded, then maybe taking his own advice would help.

Still, marching off to the little corner of the desert where Major Payne stayed wasn't going to be quick or easy, in any form. Now would be a fantastic time for him to figure out what exactly he planned to do when he got there.

Using the radio to find help would be quicker than going back with the shuttle, but it would likely still take a couple of hours. There had to be a faster way. The Major had a plane--but where was Lloyd supposed to land a beat-up biplane in Valentine?

     _"Aww, why can't we go on a couple more airplane trips? We'd get to trade our tickets for a ride on the tank!"_

Maybe the karaoke thing got them in trouble, but Ninten's impulsive whims set Lloyd on exactly the right course this time around. If he really put his mind to it and convinced the Major to lend him a tank…

"Thank you, Ninten," he whispered. Out loud this time, as if someone could hear him.

Normally, borrowing a tank would seem impossible, but now Lloyd was operating on a new set of rules--the ones that Ninten lived by. He needed the blind optimism and confidence Ninten carried like a badge of honor, because with this setback, there was no other way he'd make it to Valentine by the end of the day.

Ignoring the probabilities of sunburn and heatstroke, Lloyd set off to find his transportation.

* * *

Ninten almost forgot how Magicant smelled like flowers. Like, a _lot_ of flowers. And between the pink and green everywhere, and the fact that the ground was soft and looked like clouds, it felt more like a drawing in a storybook than a real place.

"This is Magicant?" Teddy asked.

Ninten grinned at him. “Yep! This is Queen Mary’s kingdom, and the place I need your help.”

"Ninten, who’d you bring to Magicant with you?"

It wasn't too surprising that Teddy and Ana were both startled to see the talking cat swimming among the clouds. He'd scared Ninten at first, too.

"These are two of my friends, Ana and--” Ninten had to pause and correct himself. “Teddy. Sorry. We're here to see the dragon in the Crystal Cavern.”

"Why? I'm pretty sure he doesn't wanna be bothered."

"Well, if I'm not supposed to talk to him, then why'd his scales get all glowy when I walked by him last time?"

The cat blinked in surprise. "I've never seen him do that!"

"Exactly. I think I just needed to work on my PSI a lil’ more to talk to him right. Plus, there's a sword hidden nearby, n’ I figured… ya know, dragon, sword in a rock,” Ninten said. ”I saw it the first time around, but it was too heavy for me to hold. I was thinkin' Teddy--" Ninten gestured to Teddy, next to him--"might be better with it than I'd be."

"Whoa whoa whoa, kid, hold the fuck up!" Teddy interrupted. "You want me to fight a _dragon?_ "

"Language," the cat sighed. "And, relax. You can't really get hurt here. Sure, the dragon can get the better of you, but you'll just wake up where you're standing right now! Queen Mary doesn't like putting anyone in danger, especially kids."

"I'm not--"

"You're seventeen," the cat said.

Waitaminute, Teddy was just a teenager?! How come he looked and acted like a grown-up?

"How'd you know?" Teddy asked. He almost looked more confused than Ninten.

“Queen Mary knows a kid when she sees one,” the cat explained with a wink--Ninten wasn’t sure he liked seeing a cat wink. “Don’t worry, it just means she’ll be looking after all of you!”

Teddy wasn’t too happy with that answer. “But… we just got here. We haven’t even met this lady yet!”

“Queen Mary knows n’ sees everything here,” Ninten explained. “And everyone here knows her. We can’t see or feel her ‘cause we’re not from Magicant, but--”

“--any friend of Ninten’s is a friend of hers!” the cat finished, all sweet.

“Thanks for the welcome!” Ninten said, flashing a grin at the swimming cat.

“Absolutely! But can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah, of course!”

The cat blinked innocently. “There’s someone you wish was here with you. Why didn’t you bring him?”

Ninten felt like he’d been slammed by one of the Weird-ified cars. And, like that wasn’t bad enough, he just _knew_ Teddy and Ana were staring at him. There was no getting around it--everyone knew exactly who this cat was talking about.

       
_Everything was still hazy, but Ninten could make out the voice more clearly this time--like it was trying to wade through the fog and find him._   


    _“You brought me with you after I nearly killed you trying to make cough syrup! You’re always looking after me, because you_ care! _No one else ever did, you’re the best friend I’ve ever had! I-I’m so scared right now, but I know you’re in there, I know my friend is in there!”_

       
_Was that… Lloyd? Why was he scared?! What was happening?!_   


“Magicant’s not our only stop,” Ninten said. “He woulda got hurt. I sent him home to be safe.”

The cat swam closer, blinked again, and laid its paws on the cloud in front of it like it was watching Ninten just a little too closely.

“You know, a lot of the people you know admire you because you’re honest.”

“What’re you accusin’ me of?!” Ninten snapped, before he even realized he was upset.

“I didn’t accuse you of anything,” the cat sighed as it backed up to swim away. “But I think your reaction said more than I ever could. Here, take this--I get the feeling you’ll need it someday.”

The cat coughed up a furball, and the fur faded away until there was only a hook-shaped earring left. With that, Magicant’s sorry excuse for a welcome wagon swam away. 

“Is this… an earring?” Ana asked. She picked it up and held it in front of her face like she was gonna see some big secret in it or something.

“I dunno. Keep it if you want.”

Ninten set off for the cavern and tried to pretend he wasn’t stomping. He knew he needed to be calming down so nothing got out of hand, but for the first time he could remember, he didn’t _want_ to feel better. This wasn’t like the usual problems he had with getting frustrated. He was angry, like, for _real._ Why was that? The cat only asked about Lloyd, and after all, he wasn’t really accusing Ninten of anything by saying he was honest. It was just a fact, right? And really, Ninten had to be more honest than ever to tell Lloyd to his face that the mission against the Weirdness was too dangerous for him! There was nothing to be mad about, so why was he so… _mad?!_

“Ninten, are you okay?” Ana asked behind him.

More than anything, Ninten wanted to tell her he wasn’t, that he was angry and he wanted to hit something.

“I’m fine,” he said instead. 

For some reason, whatever had his blood boiling, he didn’t want to talk to Ana about it. That was new. Since when did he hide stuff from his friends? Either way, he hoped she’d shut up, because now he wanted to hit _her._ And he still didn’t know why.

“You seemed unreasonably upset with that cat--”

“I said I’m _fine._ ”

Nobody talked after that, and Ninten tried to forget about the stupid cat and his stupid feelings. Nothing was wrong, he was just… angry, and he didn’t want to talk to anyone until it went away. He shut his eyes for a few steps, and tried to just think about the smell of flowers.

* * *

"Sir!"

As Lloyd tromped through the sand, breathless and pink from the sun, Major Payne looked up from where he sat crouched next to his radio. Once Lloyd could see the Major’s face clearly through the waves of heat in the air, he could tell from the raised eyebrows that the Major recognized him.

"Weren't you one of those kids who took my airplane tour?"

Lloyd nodded excitedly. "So you remember me?"

"'Course! Not many people come all the way out here to see me anymore--not since the disappearances started."

Lloyd thought of all the money Major Payne must’ve missed out on after Easter started making the adults disappear, leaving no one to buy his tours. Had the three of them been his only customers since the Weirdness surfaced? As awful as that was for the Major, it was a blessing for Lloyd--he needed Major Payne to remember Ninten and Ana at least sort of clearly, and if Lloyd had stuck in his memory...

"Do you remember my friends, too?"

"The little blonde girl and the skinny boy?"

"Yes!" Lloyd was louder than he intended to be, but everything was falling into place and uncontrollable hope was surging through him. "Okay, I'm going to sound completely crazy for a moment here."

The Major raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

"I need to borrow your tank. The two of them sent me a telepathic message, and they're in serious danger. I've been trying to get back to them, but the bus lines are all crazy, and the shuttle I was taking to Easter got stopped in the middle of the road because a tree fell over."

"Telepathic…" The Major's eyes lit up. "Wait, when was it you heard that message?"

"Um, maybe ten hours ago?"

The Major patted a hand on his radio. "She picked up all kinds of ear-splitting frequencies right around then. Must've heard your conversation."

PSI could interfere with the radio? Wait--did Lloyd have his foot in the door already?!

"So can you help me?"

"Now, let me get this straight, son." Major Payne narrowed his eyes. "You intend to use my _specialized military equipment_ to hitch a ride?"

Lloyd instinctively cringed back from intimidation--but then made himself stand up straight again. This wasn't the time to give up on his resolution.

"It's more than that. They're trying to save the world, and the three of us know more than anyone else about what's going on--unless you've met someone _else_ who's spoken telepathically with a cactus in this desert."

To Lloyd's surprise, the Major seemed excited to hear about Ninten’s odd cactus conversation.

"The same cactus I circle around on my tours? Well, I always thought it looked like it was smiling. Who knew it had a voice?"

Lloyd clapped his hands together. "That's what I mean! The world’s full of crazy stuff you normally wouldn’t believe, but not all of it’s good. Like the desert animals freaking out! See, Ninten’s leading a mission to stop the Weirdness--I mean the stuff getting into, well, everything, and making it all violent. Ninten and Ana were going to figure out what's making people disappear, too. So whatever's hurt them, it more than likely has to do with the Weirdness, or with whatever’s taking people from Easter. I know how dangerous both of those things are, and I can't wait around for a bus!"

The Major let out a thoughtful sigh, and then paused.

"Are you really the same boy who hardly spoke a word to me before?"

"Yeah, except that now I have lives to save and I'm running out of time."

That almost… looked like a smile on the Major’s face?

"So, you’re headed to Valentine, eh?"

Every step of this hectic trip helped Lloyd understand a little better exactly how Ninten was able to waltz right into places and get people on his side with almost no effort. He just hoped he was doing all of this fast enough.

Overcome by excitement and anxiety, Lloyd started tapping his fingers against his leg. "I don't know exactly--"

The radio started screeching, but the voice inside Lloyd's head drowned out the deafening sounds.

_Mount Itoi!_

"--but somewhere on Mount Itoi," he finished, feeling hope surge through him as he realized his friends were still alive.

“You just heard from them?”

Lloyd nodded eagerly.

"Well, if you're enlisting my help, then you can just skip your stop in Valentine. Ol' Victory will climb straight up from the swamplands!" the Major said.

"Victory?"

Major Payne grinned. "You asked for the tank, didn't you? It’s too dangerous for you to take alone, but lucky for you, I don’t exactly have a line of tourists waiting on me. Hop in the turret controls, and you'll be on your way in no time!"

Lloyd had already thanked Ninten twice, so this time he made a promise instead: _I'll make it up to you._ And then, gathering up his courage, he followed the Major around to the back of his tent.

* * *

Ninten slid to the bottom of the ladder, and he was pretty proud of himself for remembering exactly which way to go all the way to the bottom of the well--and for managing to push his anger away. Everything was just like normal again, and just in time for the fight! It was relieving to know he had things under control after all.

“I could’ve sworn every room was the same. How did you remember all of that?!” Ana asked. Her shoes tapped softly one by one on the last rung, and then the ground.

“I dunno how, honestly. I was worried I wouldn’t!”

Ana giggled and walked right up next to Ninten. “You’re hopeless.”

“Hey, that’s not very nice!” 

Ninten turned to face Teddy, fresh off the ladder. “You’re the closest thing to a grown-up we’ve got. Tell Ana to be nice!”

“Honestly?” Teddy put his hands in his pockets. “You little shits are more grown-up than I am in a lot of ways. Tell her off yourself, Ninten.”

Ninten felt an evil grin sneak up onto his face. “We’re more grown up than you, huh? Well, then… Teddy, you’d better clean up your language, or you’re _grounded!_ ”

Ninten and Ana both about died of laughter, but after a few seconds… Ninten realized Teddy wasn’t laughing at all.

“Aw, I’m just kiddin’ around,” Ninten said. “Don’t take me too seriously.”

Ninten wasn’t expecting to see Teddy start to grin himself. After everything Teddy said and did so far, Ninten was almost positive he was gonna be sarcastic and rude.

“I think I already am grounded. _Under_ grounded, at least.”

That had to be the corniest joke in the universe, but hearing it from Teddy--and knowing he was finally lightening up--was enough to send Ninten into another fit of laughter.

“Does it count as underground if we’re still at cloud level?” Ana asked between giggles.

“Well, are we even in the sky? I think this is a whole-ass alternate universe!”

Ninten felt a gentle shove on his shoulder, and realized Teddy was standing in front of him.

“You’re too easily amused, you know that? There are thousands of better jokes out there. Now, c’mon, get it together. You said I had to fight a dragon, yeah?”

“Right.” Ninten cleared his throat and somehow managed to stop most of the laughing. “Over here, there’s that sword I was talkin’ about!”

“Fuckin’ Excalibur-ass storybook adventure,” Teddy muttered from behind Ninten. “Never would’ve guessed.”

“I dunno what an Excalibur is, but here’s your sword!” Ninten said, pointing to a bunch of crystals with a sword sticking out.

“Hope I’m worthy,” Teddy said. It sounded like he was joking, but Ninten didn’t really get it.

Teddy climbed up on the mountain of crystals, put both of his hands on the handle part of the sword, and then pulled as hard as he could--and almost fell over when it popped out. It wasn’t near as dramatic as Ninten expected.

“Easier than I thought it’d be,” Teddy said with a shrug.

“All right! We got a real hero-versus-dragon showdown on our hands!”

Ana cleared her throat from a few feet behind them. “I know you’re both boys, and you’re caught up in the excitement, but Teddy, do you even know how to use a sword?”

“Can’t be _too_ different from a knife,” Teddy said with a shrug. “We can’t get hurt here, right? Show me that dragon, and we’ll find out whether I can hold my own with this thing!”

“Right around this corner!” Ninten called, already sprinting away to wake up the dragon.

And right around the corner, there he was: curled up on the crystals, in a deep sleep that no one could wake him from.

Unless they had PSI strong enough to wake a dragon. Which, funnily enough, Ninten did.

“HELLO, GIANT CAVE DRAGON!” he yelled, making sure his voice was sending waves of blue-green-red right into the dragon’s brain.

_So, the time has come for me to share my treasure. Are you the boy Ninten?_

“Sure am!”

_If you and your friends are able to hold your own against me, I will divulge my most sacred possession to you: the notes of an ancient lullaby._

“You’ve got a melody?! I knew I needed to come see you!” Ninten laughed.

_Magicant knows you, and it knows what you have need of. Come, face me in battle! You must win my respect in order to win my song._

The dragon stood up and let out a terrifying roar--but already Ana and Teddy were in position to fight.

“PSI Paralysis!”

The dragon only stopped for a few seconds before the PSI fizzled out, and it shook off the last of the Paralysis.

“Oh, wow, you’re _strong!_ ” Ninten laughed. “Okay, now that I know you’re serious, let’s try somethin’ else! PSI Shield!”

A huge, shining wall of PSI energy set itself in front of Ninten, Ana, and Teddy. It was big enough to bend and stretch around them every time they moved.

“Your Shield’s gotten much stronger!” Ana pointed out.

“Thanks, I’ve been workin’ on it!”

Ana ran around to the dragon’s side, pointing her hands at his foot. “PSI Freeze!”

That was real smart of Ana. Dragons breathed fire, right? So they probably didn’t deal too well with ice! She was spot-on, judging by the angry roar. The dragon took a deep breath--

Oh, wait, _dragons breathed fire!_

“DUCK!” Ninten screamed, and then dove to the ground. Fire exploded around the three of them, with a strong wave of heat that stayed a few seconds after.

Once the coast was clear, Ninten looked back at the dragon--and noticed that even after the angry fire-breathing attack, he still had one foot frozen to the ground.

“Ana, freezin’ him works!” Ninten called.

“On it! PSI Freeze!” she shouted again, casting ice like a wizard’s spell and staying out of his reach by jumping between the crystals.

One blast stuck the dragon’s wing to the wall--and another trapped his other foot--but then he swiped at them with his giant claws, and Teddy jumped backwards just in time for one of the claws to dent the shield right in front of him. With how strong that attack was, Ninten could see the power around Teddy weakening.

“All right, he’s all tied up! It’s now or never!” Ana yelled.

“Teddy, run at him and go for the heart!”

Teddy ran up to the dragon, raised the sword--

_Enough._

“Okay, stop!” Ninten called.

“Stop?! Ninten, this thing’s trying to set us on fire!”

“He’s a dragon of Magicant, and he knows what we need!” Ninten insisted. “We proved ourselves already, and he’s not attacking anymore, now stop!”

Teddy stuck out his middle finger at Ninten--that was rude!--and then stabbed the dragon with the sword anyways.

“ _TEDDY!_ ” Ninten yelled before he could think. 

The dragon had to be okay. He had to be! They never meant to kill him--or, at least, Ninten didn’t! They were only gonna prove they were strong enough… and evidently they were, because the dragon had fallen over, and its glowing blood was oozing all over the crystals and rocks.

“I’m so sorry!” Ninten said, kneeling down next to the dragon’s face. “I never meant for anyone to hurt you that bad!”

_Magicant will revitalize me, as it does you. Have no fear._

“Oh, good,” Ninten sighed. “...I still feel bad, though. I’ve taken a few hits in Magicant, so I know this probably really hurts...”

_You did not strike me, Ninten. You are not responsible for this attack. However, I would caution you to choose your allies carefully--you may find that they do not obey the same moral boundaries as you, and one day there will be an enemy outside of Magicant who is not as lucky as I am._

“...I understand,” Ninten said softly, already wondering what would’ve happened if it had been Lloyd wielding the sword. Sure, he wasn’t the bravest _or_ the strongest, but… he wouldn’t have hurt the dragon when Ninten asked him to stop, either.

_Now, take this music, and add to what you already know. You’re nearly to the end of your journey._

“But I still have two melodies left, and I don’t know where--”

_Trust yourself, Ninten, and do what you believe is right. You have plans after your departure from Magicant; the final two melodies will reveal themselves as you continue onwards._

“If you say so,” Ninten agreed. “But I have a question for you--if that’s okay.”

_Be concise. I must leave to heal soon._

“Why is it that everybody knows Queen Mary’s melodies _except_ Queen Mary?”

_You have already heard the answer you seek, from the vessel of the fifth melody in Yucca Desert. I cannot change the truth; I can only add to what you know. Queen Mary has hidden her songs from the waking world, and from herself as well. While each one of us, the stewards of the melodies, are eager to help her remember, she entrusted us with each song under oath that we would never return them to her. We knew the time would come at which she would request her melodies again; still, we are bound by an oath not only to her, but to Magicant itself. In these circumstances, we must put our faith in you. Queen Mary, in the most hidden parts of her being, has chosen you to receive her songs. You are the only one capable of returning her memories to her. Whether you know it or not, Ninten, you hold a place deep in her heart._

“Wait, does that have to do with everyone in Magicant knowin’ my family?”

_Take the music and depart, Ninten. You will learn more when you are ready._

Ninten groaned. “C’mon, I just wanna know why it’s gotta be me!”

_Trust yourself. Continue onwards._

“That’s not--”

The dragon of the Crystal Caverns faded away into thin air. Where he was sleeping before, there was a piece of sheet music.

“Another telepathic conversation?” Ana asked.

“Yeah. Sorry, I dunno why you can never hear ‘em.” 

Ninten bent over and picked up the sheet music. One of the corners of the page was wet with the dragon’s glowing blood, but it was starting to dry out to a dull, kinda bluish-gray color in Ninten’s hands. He glanced over the rest of it, and realized he recognized every note.

“...It’s… every melody we’ve got so far. Plus another one, from the dragon.”

“Six melodies,” Ana commented. “We’re almost there, aren’t we?”

“I guess we are,” Ninten agreed, even though his stomach was turning.

The dragon did nothing to deserve that much anger. He asked for mercy, and instead he got as close to being killed as Magicant could allow. Was that how the thugs with knives operated in Valentine? Ninten already regretted letting Teddy come with them.

“Okay, kid… I kept up my end of the bargain.”

And now the three of them were going to climb a mountain together… Ninten only hoped the dragon couldn’t see the future or anything, and that he wasn’t talking about anyone in particular when he said Teddy was liable to hurt someone else permanently.

* * *

Lloyd didn’t play very many video games, nor did he know anything about driving a car. Add those things together, and he was more than relieved that Major Payne was ready to take the driver’s seat.

“Now, we’re not in combat, so there’s no reason to lock up tight. So long as you’re careful, you can sit up there just like you’re in the bed of a pickup truck,” the Major explained.

“And… it’s safe up here?”

“Safe as it could ever be,” Major Payne agreed. “Victory’s a tough one. Anything that’d put you in danger in a normal car--short of a meteor crash--won’t do any harm to a tank.”

“I can’t thank you enough,” Lloyd said.

“Well, that right there is already too much!” the Major laughed. “If this really is a matter of saving the world, well, that’s what I signed up for years ago when I enlisted. I’m more than happy to give a little time to a good cause. Besides, as much as I’d like to hang around alone in a hot desert, you’re not experienced enough to make it across the swamp and up even part of that mountain in full control of the tank, let alone trying to navigate on your own! Speaking of which, do me a favor and tell me if I’m about to crash into anything.”

Unnerved but determined, Lloyd nodded.

“All right, then. Hold onto your glasses, boy, we’re going for a ride!”

The tank roared to life, and it took all that Lloyd had in him not to scream for Major Payne to stop everything and let him off. He was the kind of kid who was too afraid to ride rollercoasters, although he’d never admit it to his friends. Still, he wasn’t going to lie to himself--this was incredibly terrifying to experience, more so knowing that he and the Major were rolling right up to whatever had Ninten, Ana, and Teddy in danger.

But if there was one thing Lloyd had learned from everything they’d been through so far, it was that most of the time, the scary things were the most important. The day Lloyd met Ninten, he had to fight his fear and open up the lid to his hiding place--and that led to going on an adventure with his first real best friend. Standing up to danger when Ninten was under attack had strengthened the friendship between him and Lloyd. It’d helped Ana fit in at the Rosemary Manor, and led the three of them to investigate the Weirdness together. Facing something scary in Easter had cleared the air between him and Ninten, and it made the Weirdness a little less mysterious. Most importantly, the idea of finding whatever was causing the Weirdness was terrifying--but that would mean saving the world.

Running away was a mistake. Teddy seemed ready to look danger in the face, but then again, he didn’t have any idea how dangerous the Weird-ified could be. Maybe if Lloyd had stood his ground and gone with his friends, he could’ve made a difference before things got this bad. Maybe they would’ve defeated whatever made Ana scream out to Lloyd from so far away, and they would’ve done it together. Lloyd was more than aware that he only left because, despite everything they’d been through, he was still scared of every monster that could hurt him out there.

Lloyd had to stop being scared of a lot of things. Not all of them were physical.

He told Ana, back at the station in Snowman, that he would ask Ninten if he liked her. Lloyd never asked, and he never brought it up to Ana again. He wanted to pretend that he just forgot, but he knew that wasn’t true. Despite all of his attempts to convince himself otherwise, Lloyd was scared of what would happen if Ninten and Ana both found out they liked each other.

Lloyd liking Ninten was one thing. Ninten and Ana didn’t mind it, so long as they stayed friends, and Lloyd understood that Ninten didn’t feel the same way. He could handle Ninten turning him down. But when Lloyd thought about Ninten and Ana falling in love, it made him feel sick. They were his friends, and of course he wanted them to be happy… he just didn’t know if he could handle seeing Ana with Ninten, not when he knew he’d end up all jealous. He was afraid it would ruin their friendships--that being jealous of Ana would make everything fall apart, and Lloyd couldn’t afford to lose his only friends.

He needed to stop being afraid of that. As long as he kept worrying and trying to avoid letting them figure out they liked each other, he was just keeping them from being happy. It was everything he told himself from the start that he wouldn’t do, and then he just pretended he wasn’t doing it. Well, he wouldn’t be pretending anymore.

Lloyd had made three promises to himself by this point:

One, be straightforward and determined.

Two, repay Ninten for everything he’d done for Lloyd.

Three… if Ninten and Ana were still alive when he got there--and he honestly hoped with his whole heart that they would be--Lloyd would make sure both of his friends got to be happy like they deserved to be. It scared him, but… it scared him more to think that he was in their way for selfish reasons.

Ninten deserved to love someone who loved him back, and so did Ana. Lloyd was smart enough to know that, at least. And he _definitely_ wasn’t going to be scared of it anymore.

* * *

Ninten had never been more grateful for a healer’s house. Ever. In his _life._

“I can’t believe how many monsters there are out there!” Ninten shouted as he fell back onto the couch. “How on Earth are you holdin’ your own way up here?”

“Well, for one thing, I can heal myself as well as others,” the healer pointed out as he started to glide PSI over Ninten’s skin.

“That doesn’t work out for us all the time!”

“Well, healers aren’t out there exploring, either,” Ana pointed out.

The healer smiled. “This is true. It’s a lot easier to avoid conflict when I stay here in my humble home.”

“Sometimes I wish I had it that easy,” Ninten muttered.

The healer withdrew his hands. “You should be in much better shape now. Who’s next?”

“Thanks,” Ninten said as he got up to let Ana sit.

“I gotta say, kid, you do a helluva job against those freaks,” Teddy remarked. “Where’d you learn to fight like that?”

“At first, it was mostly defense,” Ninten said. “But then I got better at it as time went on--n’ it was real important to me that I could defend my friends, too.”

“Don’t tell me you learned all your fighting for the kid with the glasses,” Teddy laughed.

“His name’s Lloyd,” Ninten corrected under his breath.

Ana stood up and waved Teddy over. “Your turn. And, uh… if you’ll excuse Ninten and me for a moment.”

What did Ana want? Ninten wasn’t expecting this, was something wrong?

Teddy cracked a smirk. “Sure. You kids go have your alone time.”

“We’ll be back soon… maybe,” Ana said.

Ninten didn’t really have any choice. Before he could get a word in, Ana grabbed his hand and led him into the other room--a bedroom, with a record player in the corner.

“Ana, what’s goin’ on?” Ninten asked.

“Well, um…” Ana wasn’t looking him in the eyes, and… her cheeks were all pink. “I may have asked the healer over Telepathy if we could come in here, and… well, I know you can sing, but I was wondering if you could dance.”

Wait… _Wait._

Ana slid a record out of the box next to the table, then set it down on the turntable and lowered the needle.

“If you know how, that is… Ninten, would you like to dance?”

Seeing Ana in front of him, holding a hand out, it was making Ninten’s heart pound. Was that good? Bad? He liked Ana, right?! Why was he so nervous? He was gonna dance with the girl he liked! Was it because she was pretty? Because she just made him nervous in general? Ninten figured that was it. He just didn’t know how to deal with being all romantic with a girl he genuinely liked. Well, he needed to get used to it pretty quick, then.

“I’d be honored,” he said, biting back his nerves and taking her hand.

When he was a little kid, his momma always told him that no self-respecting girl would ever give him a chance unless he learned to treat them like ladies--with honor, respect, and kindness. She taught him all the rules of being a gentleman, like opening doors for girls and letting them choose stuff first, and complimenting them respectfully. She also taught him how to dance with a girl, and lucky for him, the song Ana chose was kinda slow and made it easy for him to remember and actually take all the steps.

“You really know what you’re doing,” Ana said, glancing between his one arm around her waist and the other holding one of her hands.

“Blame my mom.”

“You make it sound like it’s shameful!”

Ninten giggled, feeling the nerves ease up. There, he was already getting over himself. This was Ana! They joked around all the time, just… now they were dancing.

“It is shameful! C’mon, Ana, what twelve-year-old’s gonna brag about dancin’ with his mom? I keep it awful secret.”

“No one can ever know that you learned how to step in circles with a girl.”

Ninten grinned. “I can do more than that, ya know.”

He twirled Ana around, and she stumbled a little, but then she caught on and finished the twirl with him.

“You’ve always got another trick up your sleeve,” she laughed.

Then, her cheeks got even more pink.

“It’s why I like you, Ninten.”

 _Whoa._ This was it.

Ninten blinked a couple times, trying to make sure he understood her. “Ya mean… _like_ me?”

Ana nodded once.

...And nothing happened. No butterflies, no happiness, no sappy stuff like fireworks or rainbows or… or _anything._

Okay, Ninten had to figure out what he was gonna do with that. Ana… liked him. He remembered when he first saw her in Snowman, and how he thought she looked just like the pretty girls on TV, and her voice was nice to listen to, and he decided he liked her.

So… why didn’t he feel happy about her liking him?

“Ninten… um… do you feel the same way?”

He liked Ana, right? ...Didn’t he?! _C’mon, Ninten, just say yes, it isn’t that hard!_

But when he tried to say the word, it just wouldn’t come out.

Ninten let go of her hand and took a step back. He couldn’t keep looking at her, so he just stared at the floor.

“I… I dunno,” he stuttered out.

“I’m... sorry?”

“I dunno!” It was like an explosion, and then he started pacing around as everything spilled out of his mouth. “I thought I did, honest! I always thought you were real pretty, n’ I was glad to have you around, n’--well, even now, I was thinkin’ how I been taught my whole life ‘bout bein’ a gentleman n’ how I w’s glad for it when y’asked me ta dance!”

“Wait, Ninten, it’s okay! Just stop and take a breath--”

“Ana, I’m _s’posed_ ta like you! I tried to, ‘cause I wanted to, so bad! But all them movies n’ books n’ all the stories, they talk about the butterflies n’ gettin’ all flustered n’--I never felt any a’ tha’ about you!”

Ana tried to grab his hand again, but he yanked it away, and kept moving. If she kept him still, he was going to catch fire from all the thoughts moving so fast in his head.

“Ninten, really, you don’t have to feel all those things, they’re just cliches--”

“But I _do_ feel ‘em, I know what they feel like, ‘cause I’ve had ‘em b‘fore! I know what they’re like, but the last time I felt the butterflies, it--I don’t even ‘member when that was!”

Ninten _knew_ he’d had those weird, floaty flutters before, but that was years ago, and it seemed absolutely crazy for him to just _stop_ falling in love out of nowhere, so--so what happened?!

“I know in the third grade, I-I had ‘em fer this real cute redhead, but since then, I--every person I think of, it… i-it’s…”

Ninten couldn’t finish his sentence, because he figured it out.

The realization settled like a rock inside him.

     _Lloyd and Ninten were next to each other on the grass. Lloyd seemed confused, but Ninten was more worried about keeping them both away from the puddle of sick a few feet away and making sure Lloyd was okay._

     _Truth be told, Ninten didn’t really know exactly what to do, considering he’d never seen anyone cry this much around him before--let alone get sick from crying--so he was just trying to be gentle and careful, like his momma would be. He wasn’t quite sure why Lloyd was so upset, but the fact of the matter was that Lloyd needed comfort. They could figure out why later. Ninten just couldn’t stand watching him cry, not over something as silly as a crush._

    _Lloyd’s glasses were in Ninten’s hands, and he was trying to clean them off with his bandana. Trying not to think about what got them dirty, more like. And in the meantime, he was hearing what Lloyd said over and over in his head. Ninten didn’t know boys could like other boys, and he definitely wasn’t expecting Lloyd to like_ him.

     _“Why are you doing this?”_

     _Lloyd sounded so sad..._

     _“‘Cause you’re my friend, and I care about you.”_

     _“I’m… surprised you still want to be friends…”_

     _What on Earth..? Ninten stopped trying to clean up Lloyd’s glasses, and set them in his lap._

     _”Why wouldn’t I?”_

    _Despite the fact that Lloyd probably couldn’t even see his own nose on account of the tears and the missing glasses, he still looked up in the general direction of Ninten’s face, and… Ninten never noticed before, but without the glasses on, he realized Lloyd had_ real _pretty eyes. He hadn’t ever seen that kind of blue in someone’s eyes before. It was kinda like if you swirled the clouds and the blue sky together, then froze them over._

     _If… Lloyd said he loved Ninten, did that mean that boys were allowed to think other boys were pretty? ‘Cause if so, Lloyd was one of the prettiest people Ninten had ever seen._

The song was over, and the needle was bumping the middle of the record over and over again.

“Ninten..?”

“I… don’t like you,” he said, almost too soft for her to hear. “And I know I don’t, ‘cause… I think I really, _really_ like Lloyd.”

Then, with a loud crash, the wall of the room they were in crumbled to bits.

“Oh!” Ana yelled as the floor moved under her feet. She nearly fell over completely, but caught herself on the opposite wall just in time.

Ninten managed to keep his footing, but he was definitely in a panic. Half of the building was falling apart! What was happening?! Ninten glanced around, looking for any possible cause--then… his eyes slowly looked up.

He heard the door crash open behind him, and he heard Teddy yell “What the hell?!”

The three of them were staring right at a robot taller than most buildings Ninten had seen in his twelve years of life, and it was charging up a laser in its hand.

* * *

Mount Itoi wasn't exactly small, but Lloyd knew that anything able to take his friends down had to be incredibly strong, and there would most likely be physical evidence of its approach or attacks. He just had to keep his eyes peeled for anything unusual. Unusual for Ninten, at least.

...And these giant craters, alternating left and right, definitely fit the bill. He had a trail to follow!

“Hey, Major! You see those craters?!”

“Yeah! Those look a whole lot like footsteps, although I’m scared of what made them. We’re on the trail, kid!”

Lloyd pressed forward, keeping a watchful eye out for Ninten and Ana--wherever they were. He didn't know if Teddy was still with them, or what state they would be in… or whether he'd even recognize them through all the dust the tank was kicking up.

Ana's voice echoed in Lloyd's head, louder and louder, until _finally_ Lloyd could make out a few shapes distinct from the rocky trails.

...And they were covered in black and red.

“STOP THE TANK!” Lloyd screamed.

“... _Oh._ Lloyd, I don’t think you want to--”

Ignoring the Major, Lloyd climbed out as quickly as he could manage, and ran to what he now recognized as the injured bodies of Ninten, Ana and Teddy. Scorch marks littered the rocks around them, and underneath the dust and charred clothing, their skin was burnt or bleeding--or both. If they were alive, they were barely hanging on.

"What did you _do?_ " Lloyd whispered.

Ninten's hand twitched once.

"Okay. Okay. Um," Lloyd stammered, trying to keep his panic under control.

A quick glance around landed his focus on a nearby house. The entire back wall was blown off, and the floorboards inside had one of the giant footsteps pressed into them.

“Lloyd, I need you to step back,” the Major said behind him.

“I recognized a healer’s house at the base of the mountain,” Lloyd said. “We’re taking them there.”

“I know you’re upset, but I don’t think--”

“They’re going to make it.”

Lloyd looked up at the Major. He knew he had tears in his eyes, but he also had resolve in his heart.

“They’re gonna recover, and they’re gonna be good as new. But only if you help me get them to that healer!”

“...I’ve never been one for miracles, but I’ll give it a shot,” the Major agreed. “Help me get them into the tank!”

Lloyd knelt down and scanned over all of them again, feeling his heart twist in his chest as he took in every cut, burn, and gash.

“Please, just stay alive. It’s all gonna be okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was... a marathon. Wild from start to finish.  
> Believe it or not, I wanted to cover a LOT more in this update, but... I felt like cutting it off here was best. The word count will haunt me forever!  
> Comments and criticism are always welcome. :)


End file.
